Vincent Kompany is back to boost City’s assault on the Premier League title – but manager Manuel Pellegrini insists that the Blues are not over-reliant on their skipper.

Kompany is back in the squad for tonight’s trip to West Bromwich Albion after more than two months out with a thigh problem.

He could have played against Swansea on Sunday, but the City medical staff has urged caution to ensure there is no repeat of past problems, when he has come back too quickly and ended up either with an injury recurring, or with a fresh problem cropping up.

During his latest absence, City have lost at Chelsea and Sunderland, but they have also chalked up their only Premier League away win, at West Ham, and secured qualification for the Champions League last 16.

Pellegrini welcomed the news that Kompany, who also missed three games at the start of the season with a groin problem, is back.

But he was keen to point out that the Blues have conceded just one goal in their last five domestic games, and have scored 18.

“He is a very important player but we can play without Vincent Kompany,” said Pellegrini. “We won the last few games without Vincent, and we lost with Vincent against Aston Villa. I don’t think this team depends on one player.

“We have other defenders – Martin Demichelis, Joleon Lescott, Matija Nastasic – and they are doing very well also, or very bad sometimes, so we have a squad and now the return of Vincent is very important.

“But I repeat, in the last five games we have just conceded one goal, against Sunderland.”

The Blues have been striving to ensure Kompany returns at full capacity and, after a series of soft-muscle injuries, is not as likely to break down or suffer another problem.

Pellegrini hinted that, in the past, the Belgian ace has rushed his return, causing himself further troubles.

“He is 100 per cent right,” said Pellegrini. “He was injured when we played against Everton eight weeks ago so maybe we waited a little bit more for him to come back to the team because the other times he was saying he was absolutely sure that he was 100 per cent but maybe he wasn’t. We gave him one or two weeks more.”

No-one is under any illusions that Kompany is not an important player to the Blues’ title hopes, and his return for the away match at the Hawthorns is a timely boost, with a tricky trip to Southampton on Saturday and the showdown with leaders Arsenal the next week.

Said Pellegrini: “Vincent is a very important player, he is a very good defender and of course we need him.

“He is one of the best defenders I have worked with. He is very complete in all senses – in one-on-ones, heading, he has a lot of speed, so he is very complete.

“He is very important because he is a very good player, and our captain, and would normally be in the starting eleven, but we don’t have so many problems in defending as the results say.

“I think we have the third best defensive record in the Premier League. At Aston Villa, at Cardiff and against Sunderland we made individual mistakes that decided the match but we didn’t give the home team five, six, seven chances each game. It is important to concentrate more.

“The whole team needs the captain. We have other captains but all the team is happy with the return of the captain. In every team the captain must have an important role.”

The whole team needs Kompany more than ever as they embark on a period which will determine whether they have the mentality to win the title, even though it is clear the ability is there.

The trips to West Brom and Southampton are an acid test for any of the big clubs – the Baggies have already won at United and held Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton, while the Saints have won at Liverpool and drawn at Old Trafford.

City cannot afford to become part of those worthy statistics, and Pellegrini is targeting six points from the two games to ensure the Blues have Arsenal firmly in their sights when Arsene Wenger brings his team to the Etihad Stadium a week on Saturday.

“The more points we drop, of course, the more difficult it is,” he said.

“We have 18 points more to play for in the first half of the season, and we will try to win them all.”

City’s away defending has been a cause for concern – they have leaked ten goals in six games on their travels, and just two in six at home.

But Pellegrini insists that he will not change anything, other than try to get his defenders focussing more – it is a case of individual mistakes rather than a collective failure of the system, he feels.

“We have made some mistakes, individual mistakes that meant we couldn’t win the game,” he said. “That is very important. It is more an aspect of concentration and intensity during the whole match than individual names.”